I wanted to wait a few days before I wrote this for the smoke to clear in case someone who voted the same as me decides I must have voted the other way. Because, apparently, that’s a thing now–and while I’m not above offending the easily offended, in this case please save your offense for the system we live in. It won’t care any more than I do, but it’s the reason you’re upset, not me.
So Ontario supposedly voted on June 2. I say supposedly, because while there was a vote, and a winner, and it was in Ontario, the voter turnout was less than 50%. So more like some of Ontario voted. And yeah, some of Ontario doubled down on our having bought us a Ford. But for the folks who want to say the low turnout is how we ended up with Ford, I have some unfortunate news for you.
To put it out there, because if anyone actually still reads this thing despite my incredibly inconsistent posting to it the only comments I’m likely to get are the type I’ve written scripts to deal with, I voted Green. Mostly because as someone who used to be on ODSP they had the most promising offer. They had the least chance of being elected, but–I mean–unless you were asleep the last 3 months you knew the Conservatives were getting back in. I wasn’t voting to replace the Conservatives, and if you’re looking at it realistically, neither were you. So I didn’t.
Now, all of that having been said, Doug Ford didn’t win this election so much as both the Liberals and New Democratic Party (NDP), the two most likely to have replaced him, lost. And I don’t know that it was their platforms that did it–I mean, were I not way too familiar with what people on ODSP go through I only write about it every when I think about it), I’d have probably voted NDP instead.
The reason (and internet people, this is my opinion, so please don’t take it as fact unless you want me to mock you) the NDP lost, simply put, was Andrea Horwath–it’s a W, not a V, and as long as she’s been in the news I should not need to keep saying that. She’s been in 4 elections, lost all 4, and 2 of them to a drug dealer with no platform and half a clue. The absolute best result she got the NDP to was backing the Liberals in a Minority government in 2010, and she bungled that into a Liberal majority in 2014. How she didn’t resign after that is still a mystery to me. As is how she didn’t resign when the drug dealer with no platform beat her over the head with his half a clue in 2018. She at least had the good sense to get it over with after this election, so there’s still a chance for the NDP to become somewhat respectable. Horwath herself is toast, though–burnt, at this point.
The Liberals are a lot more straightforward to explain. How do you take a McGuinty/Wynne string of elections that spans 15 years before crashing into a Ford-sized wall and decide yes, we’re absolutely going to go with more of that? But more importantly, how do you name your leader in 2020, then decide in May of 2022 that perhaps–just perhaps–the average voter might could use to be introduced to him? Did they just decide fuck it this cycle? I mean, they had 7 seats before the election and 8 after, so that’s kind of what it looks like. Like were the diehards on Reddit the only ones actually serious about the election this year? I don’t get it.
The election’s conclusion was foregone. The only people who maybe didn’t/don’t want to hear that are the super partisans and the “at all costs” ABC’s. Those of us with no dog in this fight who wouldn’t be personally affected by any of the above winning (Ford won’t cut my taxes, Del Duca and Horwath wouldn’t have increased them–I’m not rich enough, and I’m no longer on ODSP–though the difference between the Liberals and the NDP there was in how fast, not necessarily how much) saw the writing on the wall forever ago. The only question that had yet to be answered was whether Ontario would be voting Liberal or Not Liberal for second place. And just like in the days of Kathleen “vote for me or the old white people win” Wynne, Ontario voted Not Liberal. Now, if the Liberals would be so kind as to get the hint, that’d be great. And if the NDP wouldn’t mind picking up that other half a clue Ford’s not using, perhaps the two will be on equal ground for a change. Unless that happens, I’d best not be hearing anybody giving anyone else hell for not voting. But let’s be real. I probably will.